Again Martinb, like most stories in the bible the flood is a rip off of other legends and myths of the time. Nice job ignoring my post. I guess you don't have an answer for the fact that it shows patterns to other legends such as the Atrahasis flood myth. I wrote a 5 page paper focused on this. I know Noah's Flood is made up, and is simply the writers interpretation of the legends of the time.

(30-04-2010 06:29 AM)Dregs Wrote: I'll be honest here while this type of argument is fun, and I do enjoy reading it, it's flawed from inception. On one hand you have a God just deciding to make a flood to cover the whole earth wiping out "everyone"(BTW), and repopulating starting with only Noah's family 5000 years ago. On the other hand you have scientific evidence which at its very core would say this is not possible! However that's the whole point right?! Its NOT POSSIBLE that's why God had to make it happen. It's cyclical, no? If this God is there whether he be God or Alien then he could make it happen and present whatever evidece he would care to. Most of us choose do dimiss that very premise so you can go no further. Sorry if this kind of stuff has trown out before, I'm new here.

That makes sense... but if god wanted to teach humanity a lesson that it'll never forget to obey its creator, why would he leave no evidence of his punitive measure but the writings in a book whose authenticity and veracity has been disputed? It's illogical.

Well if it made perfect sense and wasn't at all illogical we'd probably all be praising God right about now

ETA: Okay, I'm feeling generous (and bored), so let's check out Martin's assertion that the flood wouldn't have to cover Mount Everest. Supermanlives1973 has already posted the verse which confirms that it would have to cover Everest, but let's ignore that for a minute and check out something else.
Roughly twenty-seven percent of the Earth's landmass area is too high-altitude for humans to survive without special equipment, which the inhabitants of the Earth at that time would not have had. Earth has a land area of 148,300,000 square kilometers. Twenty seven percent of that is 40,041,000 square kilometers, and removing that from the total surface area of Earth (510,072,000 square kilometers) leaves us with 470,031,000 square kilometers of surface area to cover. We also have to adjust for our new altitude limit - fifteen thousand feet, the limit at which humans can survive without equipment and/or time to acclimate. That's 4,572 meters, so we have to have a total volume of 2,148,981,732 cubic kilometers of water needed to cover that much of Earth. As I established in my last post, there are only 36,313,000 cubic kilometers of water available for the job, so we still don't have enough to do the job.

"Owl," said Rabbit shortly, "you and I have brains. The others have fluff. If there is any thinking to be done in this Forest - and when I say thinking I mean thinking - you and I must do it." - A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

Using the measurement of Mt. Everest as it currently stands, would be an unfair argument; as it continues to increase in height every year, so if we backtrack it approximately five thousand or so years, assuming its rate of growth has not altered significantly, then we can conclude that Mt. Everest was approximately 8543.1963 meters in height, around the approximated time of the flood.

So... I just watched the documentary, and it was very good. I liked the fact that it started from the Biblical myth, then slowly proceeded to dismantle it, by exhausting each and every of its claims and providing evidence or, more specifically, pointing out to the lack of evidence in its favor. It creates a very plausible picture of what could actually have happened and how it became a legend. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd heartily recommend it.

All learning is quite useless if you haven't learned to question what you learn.

Okay, we've established that there is not enough water on Earth to cause a global flood which would kill off everyone. So Martin, do you still believe in the flood?

"Owl," said Rabbit shortly, "you and I have brains. The others have fluff. If there is any thinking to be done in this Forest - and when I say thinking I mean thinking - you and I must do it." - A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

(29-04-2010 06:31 PM)martinb59 Wrote: How about I copy and paste from Britannica. Mean height of the land above sea level 2250 ft. mean depths of the oceans 12480 feet. Area of land 55,000,000 sq. m. 28.6% of the surface, area of oceans at 137,200,000 sq. m. 71.4% of the surface. Volume of land above sea level 23,450,00 cub. m. Volume of water below sea level 323,800,000. the elevated land could be hidden under the oceans and the Earth reduced to a smooth sphere that would be completely covered by a continuous layer of seawater 8812 feet deep. This is known as the sphere depth of the oceans and serves to underscore the abundance of water on the Earth’s surface.

So now what Unbeliever?

Martin, the problem with your theory is plainly written in the Bible, as superman demonstrates:

(30-04-2010 05:00 AM)supermanlives1973 Wrote: Genesis 7:19-20

19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet.

Yes, it does.

The Bible says it rained, and the water rose.

At no point does the Bible say that there were great earthquakes and the land sank into the ocean. Temporarily.

Quote:Plato's story centers on Solon, a great Greek legislator and poet who journeyed to Egypt some 150 years earlier. While in the Egyptian city of Sais Solon received the story of Atlantis from priests. The priests respected Solon's reputation and cordially welcomed him. They also respected the Athenians, whom they regarded as kinsmen, because they believed their deity Neith to be the same deity as the Greeks called Athena. Therefore, she was believed to be the patroness and protector of both Greece and Egypt.
The story that the priests told Solon was unknown to him. According to ancient Egyptian temple records the Athenians fought an aggressive war against the rulers of Atlantis some nine thousand years earlier and won.

These ancient and powerful kings or rulers of Atlantis had formed a confederation by which they controlled Atlantis and other islands as well. They began a war from their homeland in the Atlantic Ocean and sent fighting troops to Europe and Asia. Against this attack the men of Athens formed a coalition from all over Greece to halt it. When this coalition met difficulties their allies deserted them and the Athenians fought on alone to defeat the Atlantian rulers. They stopped an invasion of their own country as well as freeing Egypt and eventually every country under the control of the rulers of Atlantis.

Shortly after their victory, even before the Athenians could return home, Atlantis suffered catastrophic earthquakes and floods until it disappeared beneath the sea. All of the brave men were swallowed up in one day and night of horror according to legend. This is why the Egyptians were ever grateful to the Athenians.